Stratosphere-troposphere interactions associated with a case of explosive cyclogenesis in the Labrador Sea

There is considerable evidence that many extra-tropical cyclones are generated by the inter-action between an upper-level potential vorticity anomaly and a low-level baroclinic zone. A variety of satellite data and the ECMWF high-resolution objectively-analyzed fields are used to investigate the origin of these tropopause features and their role in cyclogenesis for a remarkable rapidly developing cyclone that developed in the Labrador Sea on 1 and 2 March 1992. According to the ECMWF analysis, this storm deepened by 42 mb in 24 h, attaining a central pressure of less than 935 mb on 2 March The use of satellite column ozone data, from the TOMS and TOVS instruments is emphasized for the identification of mesoscale tropopause features implicated in cyclogenesis. Both data sets are able to resolve the intrusions of ozone-rich stratospheric air associated with this storm.